Mad dogs and Englishmen ...

British specialist maker Dutton has launched new versions of its amphibious vehicles. The Mariner S2 (based on an old-model Ford Fiesta supermini) and the Commander (underpinned by the new-generation Mk4 Ford Fiesta) are four-seaters built around fibregla

Mad dogs and Englishmen ...

02 May 1999

British specialist maker Dutton has launched new versions of its amphibious vehicles. The Mariner S2 (based on an old-model Ford Fiesta supermini) and the Commander (underpinned by the new-generation Mk4 Ford Fiesta) are four-seaters built around fibreglass hulls.

A fully assembled diesel-powered Commander costs just under 20,000 pounds ($50,000) from Dutton's factory in Littlehampton, West Sussex.

On the road both drive in the conventional manner, but once in the water they are propelled by a 44 kW "jet drive" unit powered by the car's engine. Cruising speed is 13 km/h, or 7 knots for nautical types. Two years ago, Dutton set a Mariner on an attempt to cross the English Channel but gave up after 43 km, just 5 km short of the French coast.

The best-known production amphibious car was the Berlin-built Amphicar, which sold 3,700 from 1961 to 1968. Few survive, due to the fact that the hull was made from ordinary mild steel.- Hilton Holloway

New Chrysler: we've seen it all before

When it comes to being recycled, cars are king. According to DaimlerChrysler, more than 95 per cent of all vehicles are presented for recycling, compared with 51 per cent of aluminium cans and 40 per cent of newspapers.

The bad news: about 25 per cent (by weight) of all those cars still ends up as landfill. There's simply no cost-effective way of reusing many plastic, textile and glass components.

DaimlerChrysler, maker of Mercedes, Chrysler and Jeep vehicles, is trying to do something about it with the Dodge Stratus (a mid-sized US model) which looks identical to any other but features more reincarnated materials than any previous car.

"The automobile is the most recycled product," says DaimlerChrysler vice-president Ronald Boltz. "[But] we're trying to set the bar even higher."

The so-called Stratus CARE (Concept for Advanced Recycling and Environmental project) has a big element of deja vu in the body, glass, seats, door trims, floor mats, fuel tank, airbag system, carpet and seat belts, and dozens of other components. DaimlerChrysler's target for its production vehicles is 85 per cent recyclability by 2002.- Tony Davis

Merging apart

DaimlerChrysler boss Juergen Schrempp has ended his 35-year marriage because the merger between Mercedes-Benz and Chrysler was more important.

Schrempp told Germany's Bild magazine "the challenges of the new task meant more to me than anything else in the world".

Sharp operator

One of the few female car company chiefs in the world, Oldsmobile boss Karen Francis, 36, was selling pencils just three years ago (well, she was head of marketing at the "writing instrument" company, Empire Berol). Something is working - Oldsmobile sales this year have risen 30 per cent.

Brush with life

A 27-year-old Italian will receive a lifetime's supply of protective toothpaste after chipping a tooth in a car accident. A Milan court awarded the man enough money to buy the toothpaste until he is 78, Autocar reports.